ppl sure have their opions here haha
any 1980-up Q jet carb is lean running no matter if its ESC/ESt or not
the government made the manufacturers lean up all the carbs in these years, by quite a lot
sounds like the carb either has too low of float level, or faulty needle seat
or leaking well plugs
they may be dripping/leaking badly, and this is a very common issue with these carbs
need to be re-leaded/sealed
there is epoxy out there on the market to fix this
i would check for it
take the carb off and make sure the bowl is full of fuel and see if there is fuel dripping out from underneath/inside of it under there
if not then it could be the electronic fuel mixture solenoid failing/faulty
also a common problem: these E4ME carbs run VERY overly rich when they are not recieving signal to the mix solenoid
make sure the computer is even geting voltage and runnig the engine
also make sure the distributor is the ECM controlled one
ECM controlled ones have two wiring harness coming out of the base of them
one with three wire and the opposite with four
if not then get one, or convert to non-ESC totally by swapping the carb for a non ECM one to match the non ECM distrib
some ppl will say to leave the ecm system intact and others will say get rid of it
only you will know which way to go with yours, it depends on many factors, including cost, time, parts availability, and technical skill level
i vote on either the ECM or the carb mix soldenoid not working
there are probably a few more ESC system parts needing work too from the sounds of it
we cant know without seeing it in person however
we are all just speculating without being able to see/hear how it runs
there are times when its better to leave the ESC intact,
when its running good or only needed a minor repair, replacing the mix control solenoid inside the carb is a minor repair
we left it all intact on the 85 elky when i took the original LG4 block and heads and crank up to the machine shop and had the crank turned down, and the block bored .030 due to wall damage, and had the heads rebuilt,
put in a 350 cam, and it runs really super strong and the carb was junk so i put another E4ME ESC carb on it i had around after replacing a few basic parts in it,
SES check engine like never has come one it runs like a brand new car
it had over 200k on it from the original owner when we started last summer, now it is painted as of yesterday,
enamel jet black solid, the lower silver SS band paint will be later on.,
next is the brand new interior we ordered and the seat is now recovered and brand new
the only thing we eliminated on this engine was the EGR and the A.I.R. tubes and pump since the lines were rusted broken
my 82 t/a on the other hand is completely converted to non ECM, totally, harness and ECM removed even, all gone
it was missing so many of the parts and so on that there was no way to get it back together and working
no point down here where there are no emissions laws or inspections
good luck
